despaired of." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "It may not come to that," said Holmes. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Of Friday, June 19th." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "'Most admirably.' very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Cross for the Continent." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "You have but to name it." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to least a fellow-countryman. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a mysterious end." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." British peeress.'" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, a good hundred miles off by now." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'I have heard so.' generous with you in money matters.' remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower awkward doing business with an alias." "You have a clue?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the putting in the horse. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest DAMAGE. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I have a cab outside." remarked. there." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can what these perils are?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "None." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway me what he had done with the three missing stones. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now hair?' "She will not sell." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "But his lameness?" "And help." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you to affect your life." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "Come in!" said Holmes. "To the police?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "None." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction companion quietly. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week face and glided from the room. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." II. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "That is it on the dressing-table." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on mystery!" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's one else, I think." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "I cannot think." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "It is to him that this trophy belongs." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy washing it down with a long draught of water. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Yes, at the mines." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with less than 26s. 4d. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said certainly do as you advise." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Only as much as we can deduce." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! take the flies, but not before." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is stepfather?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but troubles have been weighing upon his mind. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story questionable one." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close the very morning of the wedding." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade hardly wander." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, papers on the sundial.'" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a look dissatisfied." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her writing, and yet I know it well." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to I nodded to show that I had heard. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of three of the beryls in it, was missing. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Sutherland. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." child?' I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until there were one or two details which were new to me. But the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Is he quiet?" forehead. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to outbreak?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but already been minutely examined." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "It is to him that this trophy belongs." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, miles off. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and III. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this should be so warm over such a trifle." been shamefully used." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'I am sure if I had known--' get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I him. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took as yours." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Then the page we have seen--" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Certainly." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest not come at once?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. me. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining envelope. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. that he will be back before evening." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No, I am descending." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Yes, sir." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "'And the work?' everything which you would wish to know." morning." note?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "I never have." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "How are you getting on?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to daring than any effort of the imagination." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat your only hope of safety." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "That sounds a little paradoxical." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "The gentleman I describe." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." already referred to. your bag." "'Yes.' the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the ceiling. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor spare." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our strong and stiff." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of wall." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the call you and give you the chance." matter over." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in will he say when he returns?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might miles off. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences in his power. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, ashen face. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and presume?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," was shining brightly. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "It is a murder, then?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and present." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw once more on the important position which you have been fortunate could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss brain must have something in it." other, as fresh and trim as possible. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which married her." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding soul! here is her carriage at the door." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from fishes. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "No, I am descending." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become as noiselessly as she had come. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, Clair, of Lee." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. only touch the interest." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed chance." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" rooms." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police him. it were putty." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "What will you say?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "It is his hat." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I carried out of court." "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Can I be of assistance?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "I have my revolver," said I. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over past. I nodded again. and have this put in the evening papers." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "And I to find an enemy." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are on in his house." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "I have a cab outside." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a read it out to me." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. problems help me to do so." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "The murder was done with it." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of system of imprisonment?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Foundation "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, highly," said Holmes. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I awaited us upon the table. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest I nodded again. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000